Family Law

Where there was sufficient evidence of abuse on the record, the trial court’s custody and property awards in this divorce case were not clearly erroneous. Defendant-husband appeals the parties’ judgment of divorce. We affirm. Plaintiff-wife sued for divorce. She claimed ...

Where plaintiff-father’s sister 1) meets the statutory criteria for third-party custody and 2) the statutory factors support the trial court’s decision to award her custody, plaintiff sister was properly granted custody of the minor child. Background The parties in this ...

Where plaintiff-mother temporarily relinquished custody of the parties’ child to defendant-father while she went to Florida, the trial court properly changed custody to defendant because there was no evidence that the parties agreed to a temporary arrangement. Plaintiff sued defendant ...

Where the trial court allowed defendant-husband to keep the marital home but compensated plaintiff-wife for her contributions to the home, the trial court’s division of marital property was fair and equitable. Plaintiff-wife appeals the trial court’s marital property division, arguing ...

Where the parties each challenged aspects of the trial court’s custody order, we find that 1) there was sufficient evidence that defendant had established a custodial environment for the children and 2) the trial court properly refused to let defendant ...

Where the trial court did not include defendant-husband’s accrued vacation and sick days in the marital estate, this was error. However, the court properly excluded defendant’s medical and dental benefits when determining his child support obligation. This court has previously ...

Where plaintiff-wife incurred attorney fees as a result of defendant-husband’s unreasonable conduct during litigation, the trial court properly awarded plaintiff attorney fees. Defendant’s mother was also properly joined as a party in light of plaintiff’s allegations that defendant and his ...

Where the trial court excluded the intervening plaintiff from the courtroom during a hearing to increase child support, this was error even though it is unlikely that prejudice resulted from the exclusion. A showing of prejudice is not required when ...